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Local Thailand

Monday we took our time getting up and moving and then went to breakfast at this local place. Ty had two breakfasts and I had a smoothie, fruit and toast. All this food was around 7 dollars for both of us!

Around noon, I jumped on the back of Brooke's scooter as Ty drove behind. We wanted to check out some of the local sights. First, Brooke took us to the kathu waterfalls. It was a beautiful spot for locals. There were stairs up to the first falls which were constructed into pools for people to wade and swim in. In its prime it was probably very beautiful but now it was a bit run down.

We walked up to the second and then third levels of small falls and waded in the water and climbed on the rocks. The water was the perfect temperature. Not too cold but cool enough that it was refreshing.

After our pool time, we hopped on the bikes to head to our first temple of the day. It was a beautiful temple that didn't have many people. We walked around and then lit insense and prayed for wealth and cause. Before we walked inside the temple, we took out shoes off and made sure our knees and shoulders were covered. Inside was brightly lit and decorated with three buddhas and red carpet. The three of us got blessed by a monk that was sitting next to the buddhas. He sprinkled water at us and said some words. I felt ever so slightly enlightened afterwards. But mostly just wet...
After the temple we headed into Phuket town where we ran into a little bit of traffic. Being on the scooters is a little more scary in traffic but I trusted Brooke's driving skill!

Once in Phuket town, we went to another temple which was Taoist. You could see the differences in the two influences which was interesting. This temple had Chinese lanterns and statues which were more intricate.

At 4pm, we decided to eat an early dinner at a place Brooke suggested. I had a delicious veggie burger. It was different and better than a lot of homemade burgers I had in the states! This meal was a little bit more expected seeing as it was in Phuket town and it was another hipster cafe.

Then it was time for us to watch the sunset on one of the surrounding hills. We asked a taxi to take us up to monkey hill to which he said "ah yes yes monkey monkey". Once the car stopped, we were all a bit confused, this isn't where we wanted to go but the driver pointed in a direction and said " monkey" to which we saw a place with a bunch of monkeys. After some discussion and Brooke looking up some directions and us saying "lookout". He said ahhh and then took us to a lookout point. 

We got up to a lookout point, which was not the one Brooke had in mind but it was still cool. The view was of all of Phuket town and the surrounding ocean. There was also a park that had tons of small banyan trees and thick vines to which Ty and I decided to climb the vines. I do love climbing things.

Our driver waited for us at the top of the hill so when the sun went down and the city lights turned on, we got back into the car to go back to Phuket town. Once there, we went on a hunt for flip flops because Ty had broken his on the scooter on the ride to breakfast. Most of the tourist shops had closed for the night but the city was very pretty in the dark! Many of the buildings were lit up with colorful lights. 


Since we couldn't find flip flops in old town, we stopped at a store called the Big C which is Thailands Walmart. It was super overwhelming, as any Walmart is, with bright lights and a wear house type feel. In the front of the store, before you even go in, it was like a mini mall with three floors of small shops. Then you go in and it's exactly like Walmart except Thai style. We went to the shoe section and most of the shoes were so cheap made in Thailand and were like crocs. Because they were so cheap, i bought a pair under 100 baht (like 3 dollars) and Ty got a nice cheap pair of flips as well. Back out in the parking lot, there was a whole lot just for bikes! That was a funny thing as well.


We got back to the condo with a little time to spare before the interview that I thought was the day before. I had to pack and book a hotel in that time as Ty and I had decided kinda last minute to go back to phi phi island for a night again!

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